Reviving the Lions' pride

Penn State duo ready to dazzle

Penn State duo ready to dazzle

August 15, 2006|BERNARD FERNANDEZ Philadelphia Daily News

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- They are Nos. 1 and 2 on the Penn State roster. Heading into the 2005 season, prized freshman recruits Justin King and Derrick Williams were more like 1 and 1-A in the hearts of success-starved Nittany Lions fans. They were the burners who would stretch the field and restore the zoom to a stodgy offense that for too long had been devoid of big plays and quick strikes. As it turned out, the kids more than lived up to the hype. In the first quarter of the opening game against South Florida, King electrified a Beaver Stadium crowd by ripping off a 61-yard gain on a reverse, setting up Penn State's first points of a season that would blossom into an 11-1 pronouncement that all was well again in Happy Valley. A week later, against Cincinnati, King scored on a 59-yard reception from Michael Robinson and Williams caught four balls for 60 yards and also rushed for 23 yards. "They were everything that we hoped they would be, and more," Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who normally is as loath to play true freshmen as he might be to redesign the team's uniforms, said of the rookie difference-makers. Williams sometimes lined up at wide receiver, sometimes in the backfield. He returned kickoffs. He was scary-fast, and he averaged 11.7 yards on his 57 touches until he suffered a season-ending broken arm while returning a kickoff in the seventh game of the season, a 27-25, last-second loss at Michigan. King was used primarily as a nickel back, but he caught 10 passes, rushed 18 times and returned three kickoffs for an average of 12.7 yards per touch. While others made major contributions -- primarily Robinson, who was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year -- Williams and King were deservedly accorded much of the credit for helping Penn State make a quantum leap from the 17.7 points it averaged during the 4-7 disaster of 2004 to a conference-best 34.4 in 2005. "It was cool," King said of the impact he and Williams had as freshmen. "We both wanted to see what the college game was like. We both got a chance to play and find out. "We're a lot more confident now than we were coming into the season. We kind of bring a swagger to the field. It's kind of funny. At some point it just hits you, 'I can play at this level.' Everything starts to come together. Things begin to become second nature. I think that's how it was for Derrick and me." Williams and King still do everything swiftly, but time and circumstance have served to separate them. The versatile Williams, who uncorked two option passes in the Blue-White spring game, remains a multitasking threat to make something happen every time he touches the ball. But King figures to play exclusively at cornerback after all four of last season's senior starters in the secondary moved on to the NFL. Although he is listed on the depth chart as a starting wide receiver, Williams again can be expected to occasionally line up in the backfield, get the ball on reverses and maybe even fire an option pass or two in games that count. He also hopes to again return kicks. "I want to do whatever I can to contribute and to help our team win," Williams said. "When Jay Paterno (JoePa's son and the quarterbacks coach) asked me if I wanted to throw a couple of passes, I said sure. Being the kind of guy I am, I wanted to do it. "I also want to return kicks. I feel like I can make plays back there." Joe Paterno said that, although the Lions again have plenty of weapons, Williams could emerge as the top gun. "We want to be balanced," the 79-year-old coaching icon said. "We want to make sure we have enough in the offense so we can make best advantage of Williams. Obviously, we'd like him to get his hands on the ball as many times as he can because he's such a clever, good athlete. He'll make something happen if he gets his hands on it enough." And King? "We recruited Justin as a corner," Paterno noted. "That's where he's best suited. Fortunately, we had some kids (wide receivers Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood, who combined for 69 receptions) who stepped forward last year on the offensive side of the ball and are back. "I don't think we need to put Justin back on offense. I doubt very much if you'll see him playing any offense this season. Now, if somebody gets hurt, that's a different story. But if we stay healthy, Justin will be a corner, period." All of which means that you'll only see Williams and King on the field together during practice, during which they sometimes go head-to-head. "I probably go more against Deon and Jordan, but when I go against Derrick, we give each other good work," King said. "You see things from Derrick you hardly see from anyone else. He's fast, he runs good routes and he doesn't drop anything. He has so much in his arsenal."